page_title: William P. Welsh
section_title: Life timeline
hierarchical_section_title: William P. Welsh / Life timeline
caption_attribution_description: English: William Welsh's self-portrait
context_page_description: William Peter Welsh was a muralist, portrait painter, and illustrator from Kentucky as well as a soldier who served in both world wars and in the Mexican Border campaign with General Pershing in 1916. He died at age 95 in his hometown of Lexington, Kentucky. His mural painting Lexington Street Scene, October 1793 was at the Kentuckian Hotel on High Street and was recreated by the artist after its destruction and displayed at Hymon's Department store with prints also sold. His painting "Prisoner of War" is part of the Art Institute of Chicago's collection. He also painted murals for the Chicago Room of Palmer House ans did a series of European style poster advertisements for Pullman sleeping cars. He won awards and recognition for the campaign. He worked in Illinois. His work was also part of the painting event in the art competition at the 1936 Summer Olympics.
context_section_description: 1889—born on September 20, to Bartholomew J. Welsh and Sara Ellen Cunningham King Welsh in Lexington, Kentucky
  1904—Studied drawing and painting at the Ella Williams School in Lexington under Mary Kinkead, a former student of Frank Duveneck
  1906–07—Student, Academie Julien and Atelier Delecleuse in Paris
  1909–1910—Student at Art Students League in New York under Vincent Dumond
  1910–1913—Cleveland Murals at the Cleveland Athletic Club, Berghoff Rathskellar, and the Hotel Statler
  1914—Entered the Army in the First New York Field Artillery as a private
  1915—Commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Army
  1916—Mexican Border campaign with General Pershing
  1917—Commissioned as a first lieutenant in the Army
  1918—American Expeditionary Forces, Langres, St. Mihiel, decorated
  1919—Established the College of Fine and Applied Arts at the American Expeditionary Forces University, Beaune, Cote d'Or, France, where he met Marie Prieur
  1919–42—Established himself in Chicago as an illustrator for The Woman's Home Companion, Good Housekeeping, Hearst International, and Cosmopolitan Cosmopolitan magazines. During this time he also became noted for his advertising and his portraiture
  1921—First prize in the International Watercolor Exhibition in Chicago
  1924—Murals for the Chicago Room, The Palmer House, Chicago
  1930–31—Art Directors Club medal in New York City
  1936—Barron Collier Medal for Advertising Art
  1936–37—Award of Merit, Chicago Society of Typographic Art
  1938—First and Third prizes for Century of Progress poster Competition in Chicago
  1940—Completed "The Fat Lady", considered to be his best work
  1942—Commissioned Captain in the Army Air Force
  1943—Commissioned Major in the Army Air Force; developed and directed the training for the camouflage operations in the Pacific Theater of War in the Army Air Force
  1945–46—Recorded events in the Philippines and postwar Japan in art media for the Historical Records office in the Army Air Force
  1946—Commissioned Lieutenant Colonel
  1948—Returned to Lexington, Kentucky to devote himself to portraiture and teaching
  1949—Margaret Cooper Prize from the Allied Artists of America
  1950—Popular Vote Prize from the Artists Along the Mississippi Exhibition
  1950—Elected to the Royal Society of Arts in London; as of 1982, he was thought to be the only living American Fellow in this society
  1956—One Man Exhibition, Speed Art Museum in Louisville
  1960–1974—Taught classes in portrait painting in Louisville
  1978—Welsh's friends founded the William P. Welsh Society
  1980—One Man Exhibit at the United States Military Academy at West Point
  1981—Only living artist represented in the retrospective exhibition, "Kentucky Painter: From the Frontier Era to the Great War" at the University of Kentucky Fine Arts Museum
  1984—death
caption: William Welsh's self-portrait[10]
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